The five day heifer selection trip was led by renowned international cattle expert Mr Alex Park ably assisted by project Key Expert 4. The activity was organised at the request of a Turkmen milk producer whose representatives accompanied Mr Park and KE4.
The object being to select and import 100 high merit dairy Holstein in-calf heifers to lay the foundation for a productive dairy herd. So as to improve the quality of local dairy herds to world standards and support production of high quality safe milk for processing of dairy products that enables local producers to compete with imported products. Additionally, other dairy farmers in Turkmenistan will see the practical benefits, increase their knowledge and understanding of dairy farm breeding requirements for herd expansion and performance improvement.
Past experience of sourcing and importing cattle from Europe has indicated that it is vital to use the services of a reliable and experienced export company so the services of a reputable export company were arranged prior to the trip. In all around 50 farms were visited, virtually all the cattle were housed in free stalls with slatted floors to allow the manure to be contained underground. Some 150 heifers were inspected and 38 rejected as being unsuitable.
The team from Turkmenistan were happy with the selected heifers and the consultant Mr Park felt that the cattle chosen were an above average group on breeding and conformation and should be well suited to the farm in Turkmenistan.
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